You're the Beat Playing in My Heart
by independentwriter-137
Summary: In which Ladybug and Chat Noir agree to meet up, but Marinette and Adrien find each other instead. Reunion/Reveal fic.


_A/N. This is unedited, so forgive me if there are a few errors, but I liked the idea and it turned out better than I expected, so here's another one-shot from yours truly. Also, the title is taken from All Time Low's song, The Edge of Tonight._

* * *

 _-You're the Beat Playing in My Heart-_

* * *

 _"If I don't make it out of this, I want you to know who I am."_

 _"Shut up, Chat. We_ will _make it out of this alive. You're not telling me your identity right now. I'm not going to give you an excuse to die."_

* * *

The day isn't particularly cold, but Marinette's hands feel like ice. She rolls the tip of her pigtail between her thumb and her index finger in an attempt to keep her hands busy, but she's too fidgety to stay focused on one activity for long. She alternates between humming a tune she's heard once or twice and silently berating herself for setting this whole thing up in the first place.

She wants to meet Chat; she really does. She also wishes she wasn't Marinette Dupain-Cheng so he wouldn't be so underwhelmed when he finally meets her, but the Ladybug spots disappeared for good the moment her earrings disappeared with Chat's ring.

 _Tikki,_ she thinks and tries not to let her emotions get the better of her. What she would give to have one of Tikki's pep talks right now. She never even got to say goodbye to her kwami, or Chat Noir for the matter, but he's the reason why she's sitting on this bench in the first place at 6PM on a Sunday.

Not for the first time, she curses Gabriel Agreste, her once idol turned arch enemy. If he hadn't tried to bring those two miraculouses together, if he had known that the power of the god was too strong for a human to sustain, if only he had known that two stones wouldn't be enough to contain that kind of combined power, that it would destroy itself and whoever dared to wield it, then maybe she would still have Tikki and Chat would still have Plagg. Adrien would definitely still have a father.

She tries not to think too much of Adrien these days. He was a total wreck those first few days after his father's death. She didn't know how to look at him, how to comfort him. The truth was at the very tip of her tongue, _I killed him, I killed him._ Sometimes she'd hear Chat's voice, telling her that wasn't true, so she'd amend her thoughts. _I couldn't save him, I'm sorry._

He doesn't seem to bear any ill will towards Paris's superhero duo, but she can't bear the thought of finding out how he would react if he found out that _she_ of all people was Ladybug. Sometimes she dreams about it, echoes of " _No wonder you couldn't save him. Clumsy, Marinette. You can barely walk without tripping, how were you ever supposed to save anyone?"_

Adrien isn't cruel, she knows. It doesn't change anything either.

* * *

 _Chat's lips quirk up in a smile. "You're right, Buginette. Besides, if I told you who I am now, you'd be too distracted by my awesomeness to focus on our mission," he says with a wink that almost makes her forget the near-impossible situation they're about to face. He extends his baton, ready to leap into action when she grabs his forearm._

 _"Wait!" she cries, the urgency in her own voice startling her._

 _"Milady?" he questions, eyebrow raised._

* * *

Marinette glances at her watch. Barely fifteen minutes have passed since she last checked. Her mind was reeling. Where was Chat? Had he changed his mind? What if he didn't show up? What if she never sees him again?

She hears the faint crunch of footsteps approaching behind her and her head whips around so fast that it makes her head spin. She's hopeful, she's panicked, she's—

 _Disappointed._

* * *

 _In that moment, she feels more like Marinette than Ladybug, but she forces the words out. "If something happens and we can't find each other after all of this, meet me in a month on that bench near the Eiffel Tower. You know which one. I'll be waiting for you," she says._

* * *

"Adrien?" she asks, uncertainly. His name sounds different in her ears, nothing like the tone of the love-struck school girl she used to be. She realizes she doesn't know when that changed. She doesn't know when picture perfect smiles were replaced by flirty smirks and over the top winks.

Adrien looks surprised to see her. He blinks, slowly like he's waking up from a dream, and smiles at her. Her eyes drift to the bouquet clutched in his right hand and she raises her eyebrow in silent question.

"I'm meeting someone," he says.

"Funny," she says, "so am I."

He looks better now than he has in weeks. His hair is not as styled as it used to be, but it's not quite the mop of hair that Chat usually sports. The circles under his eyes are pronounced, but not the bruised color they used to be. "You can sit next to me while we wait," she offers, and moves the pastry bag to her lap so he has room.

The croissants are warm. Chat mentioned that he loved croissants. She made these herself.

An uncomfortable silence falls over them, though Marinette knows it's more her fault than Adrien's. She's been hesitant around him lately, afraid that he'll suddenly realize she's Ladybug and hate her for it. It's like all of the progress they made since they met has disappeared.

She grasps at strings of a conversation, trying to be polite, but desperately hoping Chat will show up soon. Finally, she manages a decent question, "Who are you waiting for?"

"An old friend," Adrien says, and Marinette thinks this is odd, but doesn't mention it. Adrien doesn't have many friends despite his fame. 'Old friends' are not something she thought the boy had.

"Chloe?" she ventures to guess.

Adrien lets out a soft chuckle. "God, I hope not. And you?"

"I'm waiting for my best friend," she says honestly.

"Alya?"

"Oh," she flushes at her mistake and flashes him an apologetic smile. "No, not Alya. But he _is_ my best friend. Don't tell Alya."

If Adrien finds her answer weird, he doesn't mention it. He nods once and they lapse into silence once again.

She takes the opportunity to subtly study his profile. He's grown up well, not that she had any doubt that he would. His features have grown more striking and the combination of his blond hair and green eyes are a force to be reckoned with. She sweeps her gaze over the crowd mulling about as they shuffle through their lives. Marinette's looking for another pair of blond hair and green eyes.

"What time is your friend going to get here?" she asks.

A troubled frown crosses Adrien's features. "I don't really know. We were in such a hurry that time totally slipped our minds. It should be soon though. We always used to meet up at around this time."

They make small talk after that, which is easy enough to fall into. Adrien has always been an easy person to talk to, she realized once she got over her stutter around him. He tells the occasional joke and she feels lighter and heavier all at once.

An hour passes.

Then two.

When there's a lull in the conversation, she feels her anxiety build. What if Chat was here but took one look at her and walked away? What if he couldn't handle the thought that Ladybug outside of the mask could never meet whatever expectations he had built up over the years? What if he didn't need her anymore? What if he didn't _want_ her anymore? What if he decided that after years of being rejected, he didn't want to see her again just in case all he received was more of the same?

Her insecurities rose up until she felt it curdling in her throat. She scanned the crown desperately, but there was no sign of him. She isn't sure if she wants to cry or vomit.

Adrien opens his mouth as if to launch into another conversation, but a sob finally breaks loose and water overflows from her eyes before she can stop it. The boy is startled, but he's quick to put a comforting hand on her back. "Mari?" he asks, "What's wrong?"

"I'm such an idiot," she blubbers, unable to bring herself to care about anything except for the fact that Chat isn't here. "He's not going to show up. I missed my chance. I—I kept pushing him away and I thought we would have more time, but we didn't and now he's _gone._ I can't find him and if he doesn't show up on this goddamn bench then I will never find him."

"I don't understand, Marinette. Deep breaths, calm down, and say it again slowly."

A hysterical laugh escapes her and she realizes Adrien must think she's crazy. Perhaps she is. "I'm _Ladybug_ , Adrien," she says, as if testing the words out. The secret feels like an exhale, like her first taste of sugar. "I'm Ladybug and I lost Chat and I don't know how to find him. I love that stupid cat more than anything in this world _and he's not here."_

Adrien, for his part, looks like she just slapped him. She waits for his anger, for his breakdown, but it doesn't come. "You're lying," he says, but even she can tell he doesn't mean it.

"Why would I lie? I have lost _everything_ and oh God, I'm sorry, you are the last person I should be saying that to, but I'm kind of a mess right now. I lost my kwami and I hurt you because I couldn't save your father and I'm sorry, but most of all, I lost Chat. I just want my kitty back. I miss him, _fuck_ I miss him so much. I'd give anything to hear one of his stupid puns again," she cries, her tears falling onto the bag of cold croissants on her lap.

Even in moments like this, she can see him so clearly in her memory. His voice echoes in her mind and every time she tries to grasp it, they slip into nothing. _Milady,_ she imagines him saying, kissing her knuckles like he has a thousand time. _Je t'aime,_ she hears, though she's not sure if it's in his voice or hers.

"Marinette," she hears Adrien say, but her chest heaves heavily with sobs.

"Mari," he says, but still no response from her. Then, in a much softer voice, he says, "Milady, _please."_

Her eyes snap to his and his smile is bright, brighter than she's ever seen it. Her heart thuds painfully in her chest and she can't quite believe what might be happening. Adrien places a hand on her cheek as if he were trying to touch a butterfly. He looks at her the way she's caught Chat doing a thousand times before. Hope thrums through her, light and painful and _tangible._

"I'm so glad I found you," he says, and tears fall from his golden lashes.

" _Chaton?"_ she whispers, and for the first time she sees him. She sees the Chat Noir curve to his smile, the twinkle in his eyes that she's never seen anyone else wear. Marinette doesn't understand how she missed it. It's right there— _he's_ right here. Her Chat. Her kitty. Her Adrien.

He nods, so vigorously and so much like a child that she can almost imagine the cat ears on top of his head. "Milady, _Buginette,_ Mari," he says, and she realizes her cheeks hurt from smiling.

She throws her arms around him and squeezes him tighter than she ever has. "I'm so glad it's you," she says. Her heart is both elated and crushed by the fact that _her_ Chat is Adrien. Chat, who watched Gabriel Agrests vanish into nothing as the power of the miraculouses became too much. Adrien, who was dealing with more loss than just a kwami.

Apologies are at the tip of her tongue, but he kisses her before she can verbalize them. Then he kisses her again and again until she forgets she had anything to say at all. His voice is steady in between kisses, a beat that matches her own heart. _"Je t'aime, je t'aime, je t'aime."_

* * *

 _His smile is blinding—not flirty or teasing for once. It's soft and fond and Ladybug feels herself fall a little bit more in love. "It's a date."_

* * *

 _A/N. Yay! Fluff and angst, my favorite breakfast combo. Anyway, I really like how this turned out and I hope you do too. My semester in college just ended, so I'm really tired, but a few opinions on this little fic would make an excellent pick me up!_

 _Review please!_

 _-Indy_


End file.
